The BBC reports that in a major effort to replace a “closed, secretive and defensive culture,” the British Home Secretary Theresa May announced to the House of Commons on March 26 that the United Kingdom’s Border Agency was to be split into two separate agencies. Arguing that the performance of the agency was “still not good enough,” she said in her speech to the House of Commons, "In keeping with the changes we made last year to Border Force, the Government is splitting up the UK Border Agency [UKBA]. In its place will be immigration and visa service and an immigration law enforcement organization.” She went on to say, "UKBA was given agency status in order to keep its work at an arm’s length from ministers. That was wrong. It created a closed, secretive and defensive culture. So I can tell the House that the new entities will not have agency status and will sit in the Home Office, reporting to ministers."

Originally formed in April 2008 following the merger of several bureaucratic agencies, the UKBA has constantly been attacked as being inefficient and providing consistently poor service. The current backlog of immigration and asylum cases is conservatively estimated at 24 years.

On March 25, a parliamentary Home Affairs Select Committee issued a highly critical report of the UKBA, and held that Ms. Lin Homer, a former head of the agency, was responsible for a “catastrophic leadership failure.”